In 2024 Matthew Edwards has collected over 5,500 pounds of litter from Calgary communities, and has shown no sign of stopping as he heads into his newest month long cleanup.

From Aug. 3 to Sept. 1, Edwards is challenging himself and other volunteers in a Cleaning Calgary For Kids: A 30 Day City Challenge to clean up communities across Calgary.

All proceeds will be donated to the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation.

“This whole effort was my way of giving back to the city that’s been my home for 18 years. Of course I’m going to give back to the Children’s Hospital in our city that gives back to the children and gives them second chances, and gives them a brighter future,” said Edwards.

The start of this initiative goes back to August of 2023 when Edwards initially started cleaning up his community as a way to stay positive and productive while job searching.

He was known online as The Calgary Samaritan, posting before and after photos of the areas he cleaned.

“It was just a way to stay positive at first, but then people really liked it, and then the next day I found a really nice job. I was like, ‘Oh, the world’s kind of telling me to keep doing this,” he said.

Posting to the r/Calgary subreddit, Edwards gained a lot of attention on the platform and was guided to areas covered in litter by fellow Calgarians.

This led to his first 30 day challenge starting August 26, 2023, where he raised $2,840 for the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation.

“Those 30 days I completely changed my life. I lost 50 pounds, I gained so many connections I finally got over the hump of alcoholism and embraced sobriety,” said Edwards.

Since then he has been working with Keep the Earth Fresh every weekend to clean up the city, along with his own individual efforts.

“​​There was one cleanup that was canceled due to the extreme weather we had in January, but I still went out. I cleaned up downtown next to Circle K. It was minus 41.”

Edwards own history with hospitalization led to challenge to donate

Edwards was diagnosed with Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP) when he was only two years old. It is a rare blood disorder causes an autoimmune response to the body’s own platelets.

He received surgery at the IWK Children’s Hospital in Nova Scotia where he grew up, and made a full recovery.

“The Children’s Hospital saved my life. They gave me a chance at life. It’s always been my dream to give back to doctors in some way because I wouldn’t be here without them,” said Edwards.

The Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation is the primary charitable fundraiser for the Alberta Children’s Hospital, and child health and wellness research at the University of Calgary.

Funds from the foundation go towards technology, expertise and programs that help heal over 100,000 children every year.

“This is my chance to raise money and give back to a children’s hospital. But as much as I wanted to give back to the IWK, this whole thing was about Calgary. I moved to Calgary 18 years ago. Nova Scotia was where I was born, but Calgary is my home,” said Edwards.

Edwards will be updating his Instagram and Facebook daily showing his progress. This year he said he will also have higher quality weekly recaps on days 10, 17, 24 and 31 on Calgary’s subreddit.

“It’s definitely not just a one man versus the city sort of story. This is thanks to everybody coming out and enjoying what I’m doing that I’m able to spread awareness in the way that I am.”

Any volunteers wanting to clean litter from city communities are welcome to joinm with locations and times being coordinated through social media. Suggestions for areas with a lot of garbage to be cleaned can also be posted to any of Edwards online channels during the month long clean up.

Donations can be made to the 30 day challenge at www.gofundme.com/f/cleaning-calgary-for-kids-a-30-day-city-challenge.